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Saad Hariri’s extended sojourn in Riyadh, widely believed to be at King Salman Bin Abelaziz’s pleasure – or rather willed by his son Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) – has stirred concern far beyond Beirut, and discontent within Lebanese ranks, with deep unease at the way the Saudi passport-holding prime minister is being used a bargaining chip. Hariri’s shock resignation in the Saudi capital on 4 November, claiming an imminent assassination threat faced him back home, is now widely viewed to have been forced.

When foreign ministers of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) met recently in Jeddah to discuss (among other issues) proposals for a Gulf Union, the outcome – in so far as there was one – was further delay.

It is not just through trade and financial controls that the United States and its allies are gradually encircling Iran in an effort to throttle the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. And the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states are playing a larger role in this process than seemed likely earlier this decade, when Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz led a move towards rapprochement with Tehran. Thus, according to GSN’s contacts in the

When devastating earthquakes hit Iran’s north-east on 11 August, questions were raised about the impact of sanctions on the rescue of survivors. “Helicopters had to suspend rescue operations during the night as Iran — under international sanctions over its nuclear programme — is barred from purchasing night-vision material,” the New York Times wrote on 12 August.

Switzerland, Iraq and, bizarrely, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Hollywood actor Sean Penn were among those credited with helping to secure the release of the US citizens who spent two years behind bars in Tehran on spying charges. But when Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer touched down in Muscat, Fattal said: “Our deepest gratitude goes toward his majesty Sultan Qaboos [Bin Said Al-Said] of Oman for obtaining our release.”

Plenty of financial issues remain to be resolved, and analysts observe that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) is still less prominent on the world stage than he was before becoming UAE premier in 2006. But something of the old strut is returning to Dubai.

Bahrain basked in a return to international prominence, as Manama hosted the 25-26 June Peace to Prosperity conference – the ‘economic workshop’ organised by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner as a first public step towards delivering US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So often overlooked as the smallest part of the GCC-3 alliance alongside its bigger neighbours Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Bahrain claimed to be playing a significant role in pursuing a major international relations goal.

When the renowned Doha-based Egyptian cleric and scholar Yusef Al-Qaradawi launched a fierce attack on Shiites – whom he deemed heretics – for supposedly infiltrating and undermining Sunni societies, he provoked dismay even among many of those who have hitherto listened to his views with respect. Then he chose to reaffirm his discomfiting message, dispelling any question that he could have been misquoted or misunderstood by the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm on the first occasion.

So President Barack Obama is back in the White House, and it is time to get back to work. But the US vote for continuity will not prompt much celebration in the Iranian corridors of power. Several hours after the result was in, the Iranian state news agency Irna made no mention of US politics, although it did post a story saying the prevailing world system “is already meeting its doomed end”.

Confronted yet again by damaging rumours, Saudi sources moved quickly to quash a 10 February report that King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz was seriously ill or was dead, apparently having suffered a heart attack after a heated telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama.

Egypt’s role in the alliance gathered behind Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s efforts to crush the Houthi rebellion suggests the ‘sleeping giant’ of Middle East politics has not entirely withdrawn from its central role in regional diplomacy. Cairo still plays an important part in mediating in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, most recently in trying to heal the fratricidal rift between Fatah and Hamas. But otherwise, Egypt under 81-year-old President Hosni Mubarak seems to have long parted from its Nasserite status as a critical hub for Arab political and cultural thought and action.

The Bahrain government appears unwavering in its determination to crush what is left of the country’s peaceful opposition movement. The arrest on 13 June of Bahrain Commission for Human Rights president Nabeel Rajab and, a day later, the closure of the main opposition party, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, has been followed by a decision announced on 20 June to strip prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim of his citizenship. Since then, Rajab was hospitalised with an irregular heartbeat, supporters reported on 28 June, while Al-Wefaq’s lawyers complained of administrative blockages as they sought to prepare their case.

A 4 November announcement by the state Bahrain News Agency (BNA) has thrown into doubt the kingdom’s continued acceptance of its boundaries with Qatar. The neighbour’s long-standing territorial dispute that had marred their mutual relations for much of the 20th century had seemingly been resolved by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in March 2001. Its ruling divided disputed territories between the two countries – awarding the Hawar Islands to Bahrain, while Qatar got the neighbouring Janan Island and the fort and ruined town of Zubara – and set out a maritime boundary.

Qatar has at last announced plans for elections in 2013, nine years after a new constitution granted legislative powers to a semi-elected Majlis Al-Shura (Consultative Council). Under the 2003 constitution, 30 of the Shura’s 45 members will be elected for four-year terms; they will have the right to propose laws, approve the state budget and question the prime minister and ministers.

Gulf States Newsletter has launched a new website which we hope will enhance subscribers’ use of GSN and its associated resources. The Twittersphere and other, even less benign environments may speculate on GSN’s ownership – hardly surprising as so many media outlets show little or no sign of having either subscription revenue or advertising income.